The Bitcoin Group #63 — Coinbase $75M — Silk Road Trial — Bill Gates — Winklevoss Exchange – Video

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The Bitcoin Group #63 -- Coinbase $75M -- Silk Road Trial -- Bill Gates -- Winklevoss Exchange
THIS WEEK: ---------------------------- Coinbase, a Bitcoin Start-Up, Raises $75 Million in Vote of Confidence http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2015/01/20/coinbas...

By: World Crypto Network

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The Bitcoin Group #63 -- Coinbase $75M -- Silk Road Trial -- Bill Gates -- Winklevoss Exchange - Video

Q+A with Andreas Antonopoulos – Author of Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking Digital Cryptocurrencies – Video

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Q+A with Andreas Antonopoulos - Author of Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking Digital Cryptocurrencies
To celebrate the release of his new book, author and Bitcoin expert Andreas Antonopoulos presents his perspective on the past, present and future of cryptocurrency then answers questions from...

By: SF Bitcoin Meetup

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Q+A with Andreas Antonopoulos - Author of Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking Digital Cryptocurrencies - Video

Bitcoin is over 'tumultuous teen' years

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Markets have the unique ability to make even the smartest people in the room look silly. It was barely a month ago that the Guardian newspaper wrote this: "Bitcoin halved in value over 2014. That's a pretty bad investment, and could spell doom for the currency."

Read MoreBitcoin gets first regulated US exchange

To be fair, at the time, the price of bitcoin had crashed and sentiment was at an all-time low, but the Guardian made the classic investment error of confusing perception with reality. When I first read the article, I was reminded of the BusinessWeek cover in August 1979 that declared "The Death of Equities." That was right before the stock market entered the greatest bull market of a generation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 882 that year and within 20 years had climbed above 11,000. For mathematically challenged, that is a 1200-percent return. What a way to die!

So, what's next for digital FX?

The launch of a regulated U.S.-based exchange opens the door for bitcoin and digital currencies to fulfill their destiny. In my view, this destiny includes becoming a new asset class for investors. Digital currencies need not be limited to a single blockchain. In fact, multiple digital currencies would add to the decentralized appeal. As the institutional investment community becomes acquainted with digital currencies, they will begin to see the multiple use cases for these new assets. Moreover, these new assets will be uncorrelated with more traditional investments, which will enhance the diversification of investment portfolios.

Read MoreRussians move into bitcoin as ruble tanks

Some of these use cases have been well documented, including solving micro-payment problems within the music industry and serving the under-banked. A regulated U.S.-based exchange will encourage more investment dollars to enter the space and will lead the discovery and launch of bitcoin's first 'killer app." That is to say, the app that allows everyone to finally see the promise of this technology. There are well over 400 digital currencies in existence with a market cap of $4.9 billion yes, billion with a "B." Each of these currencies should be thought of as its own app. Larger cap currencies like Ripple and Stellar are taking aim at the international payment systems, while (currently) smaller cap currencies like Digibyte have been developed to tackle micro-payments. The investment opportunity lies in the ability to buy into the "app" or currency before widespread acceptance.

In 1994, few predicted that the Internet would enable live video streaming on a handheld computer that doubled as a phone but that's exactly what we have. The arrival of institutional investors in digital currencies is a big bang event. If you have doubted the viability of digital currencies, today may be a good day to re-evaluate this emerging asset class.

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Bitcoin is over 'tumultuous teen' years

Bitcoin is done with its 'tumultuous teen' years

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Markets have the unique ability to make even the smartest people in the room look silly. It was barely a month ago that the Guardian newspaper wrote this: "Bitcoin halved in value over 2014. That's a pretty bad investment, and could spell doom for the currency."

Read MoreBitcoin gets first regulated US exchange

To be fair, at the time, the price of bitcoin had crashed and sentiment was at an all-time low, but the Guardian made the classic investment error of confusing perception with reality. When I first read the article, I was reminded of the BusinessWeek cover in August 1979 that declared "The Death of Equities." That was right before the stock market entered the greatest bull market of a generation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 882 that year and within 20 years had climbed above 11,000. For mathematically challenged, that is a 1200-percent return. What a way to die!

So, what's next for digital FX?

The launch of a regulated U.S.-based exchange opens the door for bitcoin and digital currencies to fulfill their destiny. In my view, this destiny includes becoming a new asset class for investors. Digital currencies need not be limited to a single blockchain. In fact, multiple digital currencies would add to the decentralized appeal. As the institutional investment community becomes acquainted with digital currencies, they will begin to see the multiple use cases for these new assets. Moreover, these new assets will be uncorrelated with more traditional investments, which will enhance the diversification of investment portfolios.

Read MoreRussians move into bitcoin as ruble tanks

Some of these use cases have been well documented, including solving micro-payment problems within the music industry and serving the under-banked. A regulated U.S.-based exchange will encourage more investment dollars to enter the space and will lead the discovery and launch of bitcoin's first 'killer app." That is to say, the app that allows everyone to finally see the promise of this technology. There are well over 400 digital currencies in existence with a market cap of $4.9 billion yes, billion with a "B." Each of these currencies should be thought of as its own app. Larger cap currencies like Ripple and Stellar are taking aim at the international payment systems, while (currently) smaller cap currencies like Digibyte have been developed to tackle micro-payments. The investment opportunity lies in the ability to buy into the "app" or currency before widespread acceptance.

In 1994, few predicted that the Internet would enable live video streaming on a handheld computer that doubled as a phone but that's exactly what we have. The arrival of institutional investors in digital currencies is a big bang event. If you have doubted the viability of digital currencies, today may be a good day to re-evaluate this emerging asset class.

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Bitcoin is done with its 'tumultuous teen' years

Southeast Asian Bitcoin Site Charged With Securities Fraud

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A Southeast Asia-based bitcoin website was charged with securities fraud after 72 others like it were seized and shut down this month by Manhattans district attorney.

Bitcoinhyip.org and other companies registered to YouYou Finance were seized Jan. 16 after an investigation that began in July, District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said told an association of money-laundering specialists. An undercover agent e-mailed the site and was told he could not lose money in the investment, according to the complaint filed Monday in state court in Manhattan.

All you had to do, they said, was send them one bitcoin, and theyd send youthreebitcoins in return, within 48 hours, according to a copy of Vances speech. When our undercover investigator transferred a bitcoin to the operators bit-address, they kept it, and he never heard from them again.

The price of bitcoin has fallen almost 77 percent from its peak of $1,137 in November 2013 to about $267.

A federal case in Texas involving a $4.5 million Ponzi scheme was described by U.S. prosecutors in November as the first of its kind tied to bitcoins. Trendon Shavers, founder of Bitcoin Savings & Trust, raised at least 764,000 bitcoins by promising investors a return of as much as 3,641 percent, prosecutors have said. Instead, he used bitcoins from new investors to cover payments owed to earlier clients and paid for his own Las Vegas gambling and spa treatments, they said.

Vance has been an instrumental part of law enforcement investigations into money laundering at large banks including BNP Paribas SA (BNP) and Standard Chartered Plc. (STAN)

A year ago, Vance also testified at hearings convened in New York to discuss the regulation of bitcoins and other virtual currencies after the indictment of former Bitcoin Foundation Inc. Vice Chairman Charlie Shrem for money-laundering linked to Silk Road, a bitcoin-driven website allegedly used for buying drugs and other illicit goods. Shrem pleaded guilty and was sentenced in December to two years in prison.

Digital currencies have been linked to money laundering in the case of Liberty Reserve SA, described by the U.S. as a black-market bank that masked more than $6 billion in criminal proceeds. A manager pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy and operating an illegal money-remitting business, and seven people were charged by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in May 2013.

On Monday, San Francisco-based startup Coinbase Inc. started the first licensed U.S. bitcoin exchange. Backed by the New York Stock Exchange, Coinbase Exchange can be used in the 24 states that support USD Wallets, according to a press statement.

The BITCOINHYIP.ORG website currently has no information on it, and has been replaced by http://www.seizedbymanhattanda.org.

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Southeast Asian Bitcoin Site Charged With Securities Fraud

Winklevoss twins: Bitcoin plunge a buying opp

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About that big price drop: Well, Tyler Winklevoss said there's no reason to fear.

Read MoreBitcoin 'BearWhale' rattles cryptocurrency world

"In the last few weeks the price has been kind of low. I view that as a buying opportunity. We have never sold bitcoin," he said. "For people who love volatility, or like to trade between different markets and stuff, there's plenty there. But we're more taking a long-term view."

The twins have a vested interest in the digital currency's future: They await regulatory approval of a bitcoin-based exchange-traded fund and recently announced the launch of Gemini.com, which will establish a centralized trading platform.

Read MoreBitcoin gets first regulated US exchange

The site would pair with Winkdex.com, which aggregates prices from various bitcoin exchanges currently operating.

"This is our effort to bring bitcoin mainstream, to build it into a regulatory box," Cameron Winklevoss said. "When we think of Gemini.com, it will be like a Nasdaq for bitcoin."

The currency's biggest obstacle has been overcoming a multitude for bad headlines, from the collapse last year of Mt.Gox, which to that point had been the most well-known trading center, to another issue of bitcoin digital wallets being compromised at Bitstamp.

Read MoreUnique ETFs to spice up your portfolio

Tyler pointed out the difference between those two episodes in particular: Investors lost money when Mt.Gox collapsed, but Bitstamp customers were made whole.

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Winklevoss twins: Bitcoin plunge a buying opp

Winklevoss twins: Buy bitcoin dip

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About that big price drop: Well, Tyler Winklevoss said there's no reason to fear.

Read MoreBitcoin 'BearWhale' rattles cryptocurrency world

"In the last few weeks the price has been kind of low. I view that as a buying opportunity. We have never sold bitcoin," he said. "For people who love volatility, or like to trade between different markets and stuff, there's plenty there. But we're more taking a long-term view."

The twins have a vested interest in the digital currency's future: They await regulatory approval of a bitcoin-based exchange-traded fund and recently announced the launch of Gemini.com, which will establish a centralized trading platform.

Read MoreBitcoin gets first regulated US exchange

The site would pair with Winkdex.com, which aggregates prices from various bitcoin exchanges currently operating.

"This is our effort to bring bitcoin mainstream, to build it into a regulatory box," Cameron Winklevoss said. "When we think of Gemini.com, it will be like a Nasdaq for bitcoin."

The currency's biggest obstacle has been overcoming a multitude for bad headlines, from the collapse last year of Mt.Gox, which to that point had been the most well-known trading center, to another issue of bitcoin digital wallets being compromised at Bitstamp.

Read MoreUnique ETFs to spice up your portfolio

Tyler pointed out the difference between those two episodes in particular: Investors lost money when Mt.Gox collapsed, but Bitstamp customers were made whole.

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Winklevoss twins: Buy bitcoin dip

Coinbase to launch first licensed U.S. Bitcoin exchange

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Bitcoin wallet provider Coinbase will launch the first U.S. licensed exchange for the digital currency on Monday, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

While pointing to a Lunar teaser website with a clock counting down to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday, Coinbases Twitter account also posted a link to documentation for Coinbase Exchange, calling them API docs for our new project.

The move by Coinbase follows plans announced last week for Gemini, a regulated Bitcoin exchange in New York that is backed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and reflects a movement to get financial authorities behind Bitcoin amid continued price declines, hacking and criminal cases as well as the collapse of mammoth Japan-based exchange MtGox 11 months ago.

That would go against Bitcoins founding philosophy as an unregulated, anonymous currency, but if Bitcoins latest price movements are any indication, traders dont seem to mind. Bitcoin jumped over US$30 on Monday, touching a high of $290 on tracking site CoinDesk. It hit $177 earlier this month, its lowest in over a year.

The Coinbase founders have regulatory approval in half of U.S. states including jurisdictions with big cities in New York and California, according to the Journal. The API (application programmer interface) documents show that the exchange will have no trading fees during a promotional period, after which it will charge 0.25 percent.

Coinbase already claims 2.2 million consumer wallets, 38,000 merchants and 7,000 developer apps. Last week, it announced it had raised $75 million from investors including The New York Stock Exchange, calling it the first time financial institutions made a major investment in a Bitcoin firm.

2015 will be the year when institutional investors began moving into Bitcoin in large numbers, Jeff Garzik, a Bitcoin developer, said via email.

Buying and trading bitcoins in the United States has always been a hassle, with many using overseas exchanges.Buying local is always more efficient, involves fewer fees, and is more likely to be compliant with the laws of your jurisdiction.These two exchanges will make Bitcoin more accessible to a huge target market.

Coinbase did not immediately respond to a request for more information.

Tim Hornyak reports on IT, telecommunications, science, and technology in Japan for the IDG News Service. More by Tim Hornyak

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Coinbase to launch first licensed U.S. Bitcoin exchange

Bitcoin gets first regulated US exchange

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Bitcoin is a virtual currency that allows users to exchange online credits for goods and services. There is no central bank that issues them. Instead, bitcoins are created online using a computer to complete difficult tasks, in a process known as mining. The digital currency is renowned for its volatility and has been heavily criticized for facilitating illegal activity, given that it can be used anonymously.

Jeffrey Robinson, the author of "BitCon: The Naked Truth about Bitcoin" is one such notable critic. He told CNBC previously that he believed it was a "pretend currency masquerading as a pretend commodity."

The insolvency of Japanese exchange Mt. Gox and the recent trading suspension at Bitstamp, the second-largest dollar-bitcoin exchange, has hurt the reputation of the cryptocurrency and has dented the price, which tanked by around 65 percent in 2014.

Monday's news caused its value to spike, however, and is likely to inject some much-needed trust back into the digital currency. It saw a 16 percent jump on Monday morning and was trading close to $300 for one bitcoin, according to industry website CoinDesk.

"To be clear, it's insurance against bitcoin loss," said Ehrsam "On top of the fact that we've been operating successfully in the U.S. for about 2 1/2 years, the largest bitcoin company has insurance to back it all up."

This is important news for the U.S.-based exchange marketplace, according to Jon Matonis, the founding director of the Bitcoin Foundation, which is a not-for-profit organization which aims to promote and protect the cryptocurrency.

"It will be a true floating-rate exchange with various order types," he told CNBC via email. "U.S.-based floating-rate exchanges contribute less than one percent to overall global trading volume for bitcoin, so I would expect that percentage to increase significantly."

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Bitcoin gets first regulated US exchange

Earth's Interplanetary Dust Traced to Comets by Rosetta Probe

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The interplanetary dust particles that fall to Earth from outer space apparently come from comets, according to the latest findings from Europe's comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft. This discovery could shed light on the origins of Earth and the rest of the solar system.

In August, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft became the first probe ever to orbit a comet; in November, it became the first to land a probe on a comet. Rosetta and its target, Comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko, are currently about 318 million miles (513 million kilometers) from Earth.

In general, comets consist of mixtures of ice and dust. "You can think of them either as dirty snowballs or icy dirtballs," said lead study author Rita Schulz, a space scientist at the European Space Agency in Noordwijk in the Netherlands. [See amazing comet images from Rosetta]

As the orbits of comets bring them near the sun, their ice sublimates, or turns directly from solid to gas. The closer the comets get, the more gas they give off, and the more dust gets freed from the ice, as well.

As the orbits of comets bring them away from the sun, the flow of gas from the objects slows down. This eventually means any dust lifted up to a comet's surface by gas leaks gets trapped on the comet instead of escaping. "There is eventually not enough gas pressure for the dust particles to get away, stranding them on the comet's surface, and they build up a dusty layer called a mantle," Schulz said.

Rosetta has been collecting and analyzing grains of dust flying off Comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko using the craft's COSIMA instrument. The comet takes about 6.5 years to complete an orbit, and in the fours years of that orbit the icy body spent away from the sun, it built up a mantle.

Now the scientists find that comets such as 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko "are the apparent origin of interplanetary dust particles," Schulz told Space.com. Interplanetary dust continually rains down on Earth and other solar system bodies.

Rosetta began collecting grains of dust from the comet about 3 astronomical units (AU) away from the sun, or about three times Earth's average distance from the sun. When the comet got between 2.5 and 2.7 AU from the sun, its dust production doubled, suggesting that this was when the object shed its mantle.

Most of the grains collected so far are more than 50 microns across. (In comparison, the average human hair is about 100 microns wide.)

These grains are fluffy, being more than 50 percent hollow. Many shattered when collected, suggesting they are conglomerates of smaller grains, likely about the same size as interplanetary dust particles.

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Earth's Interplanetary Dust Traced to Comets by Rosetta Probe

Rosetta reveals comet secrets

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A generation ago, Astronomers thought of comets as simple things huge dirty snowballs of rock and ice with a few organic chemicals thrown in. But after six months orbiting comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko, the unmanned Rosetta probe has shown them to be far more complex and active than previously thought.

To mark a special issue of Science, the European Space Agency (ESA) has released some preliminary findings from the data sent back by seven of the 11 instruments on the Rosetta comet orbiter. Far from being a static homogeneous collection of ice and stone, 67P shows a varied collection of terrains and processes that change their behavior as the comet moves closer to the Sun.

The most striking things about 67P is the shape it presented as Rosetta approached. Instead of a compact ball or an irregular cylinder, the comet turned out to be a "rubber duck" with a small lobe measuring 2.6 x 2.3 x 1.8 km (1.6 x 1.4 x 1.1 mi) and the larger one 4.1 x 3.3 x 1.8 km (2.5 x 2.0 x 1.1 mi). Linking them is a narrow neck marked by a 500 m (1.640 ft) crack running parallel to it. According to ESA, similar cracks on 67P are due to stresses caused by the comet heating and cooling, though whether the larger crack has a similar origin or is due to stress that may one day split the comet has yet to be determined.

This neck and its crack ties in with another mystery the origin of the comet. The composition of the two lobes are identical, but question remains about whether the neck is the result of erosion or the fusion of two very similar comets sharing a similar origin.

Another curious fact about the comet is that it's a lot spongier than expected. At 10 billion tonnes (11 billion tons), 67P may not seem very light, but its volume is 21.4 km3 (5.1 mi3), which works out to a density of 470 kg/m3. This means it's 70 to 80 percent porous with an internal structure of ice dust and small voids.

The 70 percent of comet's surface that's been mapped so far shows remarkable variety, with 19 regions named after Egyptian deities and showing very different terrains. Some are covered with dust expelled from the interior as ice boils away in jets and falls back in dune-like ripples. Other areas are made up of brittle materials, and then there are large depressions, and smooth areas. A particularly curious feature are the "goosebumps" found on very steep cliff faces, the origin of which is still unknown.

But it wasn't just the comet itself that Rosetta was revealing. The famous coma surrounding comets is well known, but Rosetta demonstrated that there's more enveloping 67P. So far, instruments have shown that large amounts of dust as gas is being blown out of the comet to the point where whenever the it circles away from the Sun it ends up with a temporary shroud of dust orbiting it. In addition, there's more than just sublimated water jetting out, there's also carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.

One aspect of all this outgassing is that 67P is not only developing an atmosphere, but as the solar wind the Suns UV radiation strikes the gas atoms and ionizes them, a magnetosphere as well. ESA says that this effect will become more pronounced as 67P draws closer to the Sun.

"Rosetta is essentially living with the comet as it moves towards the Sun along its orbit, learning how its behavior changes on a daily basis and, over longer timescales, how its activity increases, how its surface may evolve, and how it interacts with the solar wind," says Matt Taylor, ESAs Rosetta project scientist. "We have already learned a lot in the few months we have been alongside the comet, but as more and more data are collected and analysed from this close study of the comet we hope to answer many key questions about its origin and evolution."

Source: ESA

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Rosetta reveals comet secrets